Anyone with longer term issues after Gallbladder removal? - back to gp next week

[dahliaaa]

I'm just over 5 weeks post op. All ok from op itself. Incisions seem to have healed fine etc.

But I've been left with two things:

• Significant digestive issues. Sorry for TMI ! Started as awful constipation. Increased water/ started prune juice etc but needed various laxatives and settled on movicol for 3 weeks. Trying to manage without it now but alternating between constipation/ upset stomach etc. Feel uncomfortable most of the time and making things tricky at work. Stomach feel very 'sore' and burning.

• Dull ache under right ribs (in area where gallbladder was.) Most days. Feels very similar to the discomfort I had before the op.

Ive booked an appointment to see GP next week when I'll be 6 weeks post op but just wondered if anyone else had similar issues after getting over the initial op. Did things settle or did you need to deal with it longer term? Thanks

I never connected my constant heartburn with my surgery (even water gives me HB), but so many of you have mentioned it that it's difficult to ignore, I now take omeprazole every day topped up with rennies etc. I am just so thankful that the pain has gone, I've had 4 children and open heart surgery but the pain of GB was the worst.

I wonder if it's that people without any problems after gallbladder removal just don't talk about it - or that there is a significant number of people who do have longer term probs

dahliaaa
I don't know, but I had never made the connection before, as you can imagine after heart surgery I'm on heaps of different meds however if I think back the heartburn started a few days after GB removal I just never made the connection and thought it was the heart meds!!

Hi OP,

I have just skimmed the other posts so apologies if I repeat anything that has already been said.

Many people who have had their gallbladder removed develop Bile Reflux - (I have it, but I still have my GB, mine is due to a faulty pyloric valve).

Different things work for different people, but if you continue to suffer from a bad tummy, weird abdominal pains (which can go up your sides and even up your back) and heartburn I highly recommend doing a month-long elimination diet as certain foods and drink make it worse.

On top of that, I take carafate (also called sucralfate), which I don't think is available in the UK at the moment due to a shortage apparently (worth checking!), but I'm sure there's an equivalent. I also take two psyllium husk powder capsules (you can get from Holland & Barrett, etc). which basically mops up the excess bile.

Like most things, stress makes it worse too so yoga, meditation, light exercise, etc. help.

There is a great support group on FB that someone on here recommended to me and it has really helped - it's called Bile Reflux Support Group. They are really supportive - most of them have had their GBs removed.

Hopefully your pains are just due to still healing from the op, but feel free to PM me if you have any Qs.

• I should add that it's diagnosed via endoscopy so could be worth pushing for one with your GI doc

I see someone mentioned kefir .

Look into pre biotics. Not pro but pre.

E.g. bimuno.

Thank you so much for the extra messages - busy scribbling everything down.

I think the first thing I need to get sorted is the constipation. I've stopped the movicol because I've always thought it wasn't good for you to rely on them long term (although that might be wrong ?) but it's like my body has completely forgotten what to do. Sorry for TMI but with all the prune juice /water etc - when a small amount does come out it seems fairly soft so I don't think it's that that's the issue.

Carafate is terrible for constipation, so don't ask the doc for that if it's your main problem (carafate just helps the abdominal pains), BUT psyllium husk is a great natural laxative and really helps me.

Good luck!

Thanks melting

I recently had a post-op check up (after nine months as I had complications) and the surgeon said digestive problems should be settled down by a year after surgery in most cases.

Thanks fuckweasel - are you all ok now?

All good now. Was a bit of a long haul but even the open surgery scar is barely visible now. Only time I notice it is when I sneeze!

Well I'm now 12 days post op, and have had a delightful episode of extensive bile diarrhoea on day 6, then pretty normal poos on day 7 and day 12. I'm not constipated, that low frequency is quite usual for me.

I've been avoiding high fat, sugar and caffeine up to now but not excessively so. This morning I decided to test a few things and had a caramel latte, and then tonight I ate a modest portion of pasta with pesto and a little cheese, followed by 2 small spoonfuls of chocolate cake. All good - no weird gurglings, no tingly nerve sensations, no cramps and no dashing for the bog. I haven't even had any indigestion today.

I'm afraid to speak too soon, and I'm sure there will be more bad days, but I'm still hoping to be one of the lucky ones! I've had IBS and digestive problems for as long as I can remember, but I do actually feel better than I did before...is all of this a good sign, or is it the calm before the storm?

How is everyone else doing?

That's good fuckweasel - glad all sorted

Sounds like it's all doing really well Billy :-)

It's sad to see so many still suffering after getting rid of their gall bladders.
There was a big thread on here a few years back (sorry I can't remember it or even what username I was on it :) ) but there's absolutely loads of people who still suffer.
I've said before though, even if I was told about the after effects before having it out, I would definitely still go ahead and have it removed because it got to the point where I couldn't eat hardly anything without it kicking off the excruciating pain. While I have been hospitalised with these 'phantom' gall bladder pains a few times since removal it's nowhere near as many times as when I had the bloody thing so that's a positive, I suppose.
I remember questioning the heartburn just after after removal and the consultant explained it's because a normal healthy gall bladder will send bile into the stomach as it's needed, in somewhat measured proportions. After removal that stops and it's just dumped into the stomach, often too much and it irritates the stomach and digestive tract massively, hence the diarrhoea and the feeling that some foods (normally high fat) just pass straight through.
My issues are a little complicated by the fact that during my original surgery a bile duct was damaged, which then had to be repaired and a stent left in. This decided to remove itself a few years later and was picked up when I'd gone a lovely shade of yellow and was vomiting bile. It was decided not to operate again to put another in for risk of permanently wrecking it. So the odd time, maybe once every few years, I will suddenly change colour, not Marge Simpson yellow more of a tinge of banana :) My liver function is always within the borders of normal so I just accept it now.
Good news about the few who don't get any further issues, long may it continue.

Sounds like you've really been through the mill with it all fluffy :-(

My situation is slightly complicated by the fact that I never had one of the big attacks. I just had a constant grumbling dull ache and uncomfortable feeling the ribs.

A scan showed lots of gallstones and the consultant said it would be better to have it removed to avoid worse problems in the future. I decided to go ahead because DH is ill and I didn't want to cause more problems as his illness progresses.

So I'm really lucky that I didn't have the agonising pain many of you suffered but now wondering if I did the right thing going ahead.

It's all tied up though with me being worried generally as to whether I'm doing the right thing for my family because of DH illness. Just dont want to make the situation worse.

I think you done the right thing dahliaaa At some point you would have got the attacks when the stones stopped your GB working properly. I honestly wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. It's debilitating and excruciatingly painful waiting for it to pass because that's what you have to do...wait! Even morphine didn't used to get rid of it, ease it a little so I felt I could at least breathe properly again but that's all. So try not to doubt that you done the right thing before it got to that stage.
I hope that the issues you are suffering right now improve for you x

Thank you Fluffy

How are you feeling @dahliaaa? Have you had your appointment?

Hi Billy thanks for remembering.
I'm having a blood test in two weeks time (when it will be 2 months post op) just to double check nothing going on.
Dr said pain at this stage at gallbladder sight is quite common but just need to make sure it improves rather than other way.
Hope you are doing ok.

Site not sight !

Oh, well it must be a bit demoralising to think that you may just have to put up with it for a big longer - but at the same time good to know that they don't think anything untoward is happening! Maybe the bloods will reveal something so you can start to make some positive progress?

As for me, I appear to be in that blissfully lucky 90% category who get to go back to normal pretty much straight away. Immediately post-op was a bit shit which made me worried, and certainly my digestion has changed. But it seems to be in a good way - despite the bile diarrhoea, electric shock sensations and raging heartburn of week one, by the end of week two my bowel habits had returned completely to normal. In fact I've re-introduced fat and sugar, all my old IBS symptoms have vanished, and even the persistent heartburn and reflux I've had for years has massively improved. My scars are tiny and I had virtually no bruising - I guess my surgeon was pretty brilliant huh?

I am eternally grateful to whomever is smiling down on me that I got off so lightly, but I am sorry you are still suffering - I am sending some of my lucky vibes to you!

That's great :-)

Oh now I feel like I'm rubbing salt in the wound. Sorry dahliaa I didn't mean to sound smug

Anyway, you can have the last laugh - my innards are backing up and my last attempt at going to the loo was like trying to pass a bowling ball. Karma!